When a couple years back I managed to bend my elbow a bit out of shape I was on pause for six weeks – and I try to stay on top of things these days. The general rule says to start rose pruning when forsythia starts to bloom – however, with the amount of roses in my yard, I finish off really late in the season. And with the weather and frost being quite unpredictable in spring it really doesn’t seem to matter that much anymore. I had started a couple years back to cut back the ramblers behind the pool in November to ease up my schedule in spring, last year I added the rose tunnel right after New Year’s Day, and this year, after reading an article about Sissinghurst and their rose pruning, I have started in November, had a little pause before Christmas due to professional and personal schedules, but continued pruning right through the holidays. There might be some frost damage, but last year we had -8°C in April so there is always the odd possibility of late frost anyhow. Most roses are vigorous growers, and I hope this will free up some time in spring to divide perennials and add the self-seeded plants I collected in autumn to the borders where necessary.
